African PsychoAlain Mabanckou
Shh. Listen. Can you hear that?
That's the sound of me tearing through another title in my reading resolution. Woot. Woot. Although, to be fair, this was an easy one: Mabanckou's African Psycho is a slim book at a little over 150 pages.
African Psycho, as one might expect, is the African version of American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. However, unlike Patrick Bateman, who had a thirst for murder and (may have) racked up more than a few bodies, Gregoire Nakobomayo is more a murderer in thought than in deed.
You see, Gregoire wants to kill, but somehow never manages to do so. He wants more than anything to please the soul of his dead idol, the serial killer known as Angoualima. Gregoire visits Angoualima's grave frequently, and imagines the ghost of his idol berating him for his failed attempts at infamy. Vowing to please his idol at last, Gregoire plans to kill his girlfriend by the end of the year.
Murdering his girlfriend will have another important effect than just getting Gregoire in Angoualima's good graces: it will help him be somebody and do something important. Gregoire imagines that murdering his prostitute girlfriend will actually benefit his city in the end.
Unfortunately, it's Gregoire himself who gets in his way. As one might have guessed, our poor narrator thinks too much and as a result does very little. Consequently, African Psycho is a frequently humorous, if not entirely violent, novel.
In a nutshell: Psychological and philosophical, African Psycho is intriguing but not necessarily enjoyable. The disappointing ending prevented it from being a solid four stars.
Bibliolatry Scale: 3.5 out of 6 stars
That's the sound of me tearing through another title in my reading resolution. Woot. Woot. Although, to be fair, this was an easy one: Mabanckou's African Psycho is a slim book at a little over 150 pages.
African Psycho, as one might expect, is the African version of American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. However, unlike Patrick Bateman, who had a thirst for murder and (may have) racked up more than a few bodies, Gregoire Nakobomayo is more a murderer in thought than in deed.
You see, Gregoire wants to kill, but somehow never manages to do so. He wants more than anything to please the soul of his dead idol, the serial killer known as Angoualima. Gregoire visits Angoualima's grave frequently, and imagines the ghost of his idol berating him for his failed attempts at infamy. Vowing to please his idol at last, Gregoire plans to kill his girlfriend by the end of the year.Murdering his girlfriend will have another important effect than just getting Gregoire in Angoualima's good graces: it will help him be somebody and do something important. Gregoire imagines that murdering his prostitute girlfriend will actually benefit his city in the end.
Unfortunately, it's Gregoire himself who gets in his way. As one might have guessed, our poor narrator thinks too much and as a result does very little. Consequently, African Psycho is a frequently humorous, if not entirely violent, novel.
In a nutshell: Psychological and philosophical, African Psycho is intriguing but not necessarily enjoyable. The disappointing ending prevented it from being a solid four stars.
Bibliolatry Scale: 3.5 out of 6 stars
3 comments:
i hadn't heard about this take on american psycho--an interesting idea!
maybe gregoire doesn't finish what he sets out to do by the author's design? i can understand be frustrated by a character's lack of action or motivation but wonder if there's a reason for the inaction.
creepy cover, by the way!!
this is a bit chilling, a killer in thought who never kills...still...brrrrr
loved your review. Have seen this book in a bookshop and have contemplated buying it. Would check it out the next time.
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